Spear & Jackson CJP5 Carpenters No.5 Jack Plane

Nice solid plane. Blade comes sharp and ready to work. Setup isn’t difficult although I did take some time to double check the alignment. Overall the alignment is easy to adjust for nice accurate use. The fit and finish is what put it over the top to 5 stars. Don’t let the price scare you! They don’t skimp.

This plane is good value for the money. Real wood handles. Most important to know is that the plane won’t work as expected until it is correctly set up and the cutting iron sharpened. But once done you will have a plane with a big flat base and enough heft that it will swoosh through wood stock and produce curly ribbons of wood shavings. Very satisfying.

I bought the #4 and #5. Both came fast, well packed and covered with oil. Both needed setup which is expected with any hand tool. Both soles needed some flattening, but the dips were where all cast planes have them. This is the most tedious part of setup. Mouth was clean, the chip breakers and cap iron needed 5 mins of flattening. The only negative I find is that the lever that advances/retracts the iron is sheet metal and has a lot of slop (backlash) in the adjusting screw to engage retracting. Every bench plane has some backlash, but this guy has two full turns of the screw before it starts moving backward. Also, I like to retract the iron pretty far above the sole when storing. There's not enough thread to move it a good 3/16" into the base. It bottoms out just barely...like .005" into the mouth & I prefer deeper. The frog on both planes came installed too far back...simple adjustment to move it to correct alignment. Keep in mind you'll have to take this thing completely apart and can't use it right out of the box. Probably going to buy the #3 too. I think the totes are a little small for my hands.

Hello. I received plane number five. It is heavy and solid - it inspires confidence. I removed the knife - the sharpening is almost even, but rough, for a good result it is necessary to sharpen it on special bars. I read a lot of comments in which they write about the uneven surface of the plane sole - nothing like that. I measured it with a ruler - everything is perfect. Only all the metal surfaces are covered with a thin layer of varnish, you can see from rust. In general, I am very pleased with the plane I bought for such a small price. Thank you Spear & Jackson! 👍

Not only did I read reviews prior to purchasing, I did general research on hand planers as I have never used one. The instructions said that this unit wasn’t “ready to go” and needed sharpening prior to use. I used it regardless and had absolutely no issues at all. Very simple and easy to use. I planed both sides of the table top I am currently working on and it came out great. I had very low expectations considering “top brand” hand planers are often over $200. It may be because of how new I am to woodworking, or my ignorance of how much better a $200 hand planer performs, but I am impressed with how great this experience has been so far with this product. I definitely recommend it.

According to Rex Krueger, the No. 5 Jack Plane is the most common bench plane ever made. He says not to buy these cheap new modern planes. Instead, just get a vintage plane from a flea market (or similar) and restore it. It will be about the same amount of work as setting up a new plane, but you'll spend around $5 (instead of $30 - $50) and you'll get a plane that is the same (or better!) quality as one of those fancy new luxury planes that cost literally 20 times as much. Well, Rex is right about one thing. It will take as much (or more!) time and effort to set up one of these Spear & Jackson planes as it does to restore a vintage plane that's been sitting out in someone's barn for 120 years. I've done both! After prowling flea markets for 5+ years on the lookout for a jack plane without any luck, I finally got tired of waiting and just ordered one of these Spear & Jackson ones. This is a budget plane that's meant, from a distance, to look like a luxury plane (think Lie-Nielson or Woodriver). It has shiny brass knurled nobs, polished wood furniture, and a fancy little logo on the side. Alas, up close, it's just a not-very-good budget plane. The knurled brass isn't very detailed compared to the real thing. The tote on mine has a big gash in it where someone slipped up. These are just cosmetic blemishes, though. More importantly, if you sight down the length of the tool from toe to heel, it looks like this: /_/ Alas, you will not be doing any shooting with this plane. The frog needed quite a bit of work to true it up and to remove the japanning that had bled around to the mating surfaces (see photos). The sole was very out of flat. I flattened it on a big surface plate with some rock-tumbling grit (see photos). This is something you have to do to restore vintage planes, too. The cap iron (also known as the "chipbreaker") is very odd with a heavy curve. (See photos for a comparison with a normal Stanley one.) I just replaced it with an old Stanley one from my No. 4 1/2. (That plane has a Hock cutter and cap iron in it, so it doesn't mind!) The cutting iron itself is both the best and worst part of this plane. Mine was ground skew by at least 3mm and had a terrible off-center camber. I had to regrind it more or less from scratch. This is labor intensive, and hard to do if you don't have some powered equipment like a Tormek, or a least a bench sander. That said, though, the iron itself is great! It's a little bit thicker than a Stanley iron, although not quite as thick as a Hock iron, and it appears to be made of some kind of ultra tough modern steel. It took forever to turn a burr on my oilstones. Once I finally got it sharp it whirrs through the wood like nothing and leaves a surface so glassy it's almost reflective! I took a shaving *against the grain* that's as good as anything I've ever gotten. So, at the end of the day, this turns out to be a serviceable but not great tool. You really are better off just buying a vintage plane if you can find one. The surprisingly happy ending is that you might want to think about buying Spear & Jackson replacement irons to go in your vintage planes, at least, if you're able to regrind them. They only cost like 15 bucks (compared to 60 or so for a Hock iron!

This is tough to review because the quality gap is quite massive between this and even a Stanley plane and I’m sure S&J acknowledges as much. BUT…. If you know what you’re doing with a hand plane and know how to set them up, most of this plane’s shortcomings can be fixed with an hour or so of fine tuning. I had to flatten the sole and work out a couple of knicks on the toe that were gouging my stock on every pass. I also had to properly sharpen the blade which is not the greatest quality, but I’ve done that and now have a more than functional smoothing plane that is tuned and sharp enough to handle cocobolo end grain smoothing! And it’s not even a bevel up plane! Very happy with my purchase. Wish Spear and Jackson would attempt a shooting plane!

These are not out of the box ready. Do not buy unless you are ready to put in the work. I had to return the first one in ordered because the sole was too far twisted it was never going to be able to get flat. You will definitely need to hone the blade, tighten some bolts, and flatten the sole and sides. This is a time consuming process, but its part of why other companies charge 10 times as much. The handles are a nice touch.

Las caras fresadas hacen que como garlopa la base sea buena, si bien el material es algo blando y se raya con facilidad, la cuchilla si es de calidad. No he podido perder todo el tiempo que me gustaria ajustandolo, pero en un ratito de pruebas: - El mecanismo de ajuste lateral se mueve solo, no aprieta lo suficiente. Hay que poner la palanca muy ajustada para que se quede quieto. - La boca es muy ancha, inmensa. Hay que adelantar la cama (frog) para intentar cerrarla un poco. - El hierrecito que se mete en el contrahierro para ajustar la profundidad es demasiado corto y en la posicion de mas arriba se sale de su agujero y deja de sujetar. - con una lima, he tenido que "afilar" el contrahierro, para que las cintas puedan salir libremente. Despues de estos ajustes, funciona perfecto. TARDO 3 MESES EN LLEGAR

Bisschen nacharbeiten und ein wundervoller und guter Einsteiger und denke darüber hinaus.

Chegou em perfeitas condições e o produto superou minha expectativa.

Excellent build quality, as one would expect from S & J.

Ce beau de très bonne qualité, il fait son poids les robuste, vous avez un vrai outil dans les mains efficace